title: Regulation of Drosophila Adh promoter switching by an initiator-targeted repression mechanism.
abstract: The stage-specific expression of the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene is achieved through the alternate activation of two tandem promoters. The proximal promoter is active primarily during late embryonic development and early larval stages, while the distal promoter is active in late third instar larvae and adults. Here, we provide evidence that this Adh promoter switch is regulated by a zinc finger repressor protein (AEF-1) that is expressed predominantly in adult flies and targets the initiator region of the proximal promoter. We propose that AEF-1 plays a critical role in Adh promoter switching by blocking interactions between a component of the general transcription machinery and the initiator region of the proximal promoter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maniatis
mesh_terms: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004794:Enzyme Repression / Q000235:genetics; D017344:Genes, Insect; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010442:Peptide Chain Initiation, Translational / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors
chemical_list: C073554:Aef1 protein, Drosophila; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase